DE 10 2004 040 818 A1 discloses a valve device which serves to maintain the backpressure in the exhaust system branch when individual cylinders in a large-volume motor vehicle engine are deactivated in specific driving situations. The valve device has a valve flap which is arranged in a tube and can assume an open basic position and a closed actuating position. A motor-driven valve drive is arranged outside the tube and exerts, via a Bowden cable, a tensile force on a lever connected to the shaft of the valve flap. The valve flap is moved to the actuating position against a mechanical restoring element which urges the valve flap into the basic position. Since the valve flap assumes its actuating position for a longer time during driving operation, the valve drive is required to work counter to the restoring force of the restoring element for long periods of time, which leads to high energy consumption.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a valve device having a valve drive which distinguishes itself by a particularly low energy consumption.